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The Battle of Clarkengarde
Summary The Battle of Clarkengarde was the final battle in the Clark-Mahar War. In this final battle, the troops of the Maharian Knights, led by Pope Stein and Elite Knight Donovan, led a final, gruesome assault on the capitol city. The Maharian Knights stormed the flanks of the Clarkist capitol of Clarkengarde before Donovan and Stein were able to corner High Priestess Hill and defeat her. Battle Tactics Initial Numbers After the previous battles, the Clarkist forces were mainly scattered across the countryside, leaving the flanks of Clarkengarde open. However, the forces had dense amount of protection near the capitol's Temple, holding High Priestess Hill and her advisers. After the failure of the assault on the Maharian fort, Fort Scapi Infernos, on the outskirts of Clarkengarde, the remaining forces knew that the Maharian Knights would be planning their attack, so they sent their lead spy, Axtyn to attempt to gain the plans. Approximately 700 of the 960 soldiers sent to the attack were either killed or severely wounded, with many others sustaining mild and major injuries alike. However, accounts of spies report that over 1,200 Maharian Knights were killed in the assault, due to both the timing, superior ground, and Ignus Machines brought to the battle. However, the public's faith in the Ignus Machines was dwindling, as 100 reported casualties in the assault on the side of the Clarkists were due to an explosion of one of the Ignus Machines from a struck barrel. The casualties were from both the blast of the explosion, the burns sustained by many others, and other afflictions. Initial Tactics Within the city, many townsfolk not being conscripted for the coming assault were evacuating. Some however, stayed. The plan of the High Priestess was that the Maharian Knights would attack the city's outer walls from the flanks and attempt entry from there, where they would have to fight off the forces within the city, assisted by the manpower from the outer soldiers who would pull back and regroup at the walls after a specified time of fighting. Maharian Tactics Four days before the final assault, Axtyn reported that the tactics being used by the Maharian Army were being crafted by Stein himself, and was going to be a feint on the flanks before striking with the brunt of their forces on the front walls, forcing their way through the larger part of the army before they could regroup. The Maharian Army would send their stronger allies to the flanks, and attempt to retreat behind the lines of the front, surrounding the Clarkist troops before they could finish their defensive maneuvers. Final SCAR Plan Now being able to anticipate that Stein was behind the attack, and that Elite Knights would be there, High Priestess Hill ordered to have the Specialized Clark Assault Regiment (SCAR) leading and commanding the assault on the flanks in order to whittle down the Elite Knights before they had a chance to regroup. Additionally, they would set an ambush, leaving their lower ranks to be cannon fodder before they sweep in from the surrounding forest and take the Elite Knights from behind. The Day of Reckoning The Frontal Attack "I want them cornered by bombs and bloody god damn swords, and don't speak to me until their asses are uncovered by our barage." -General Hunter of the Artillery Brigade, Battle of Clarkengarde In the initial attack, Stein ordered the Elite Knights to fight at the flanks of the Clarkist capitol, and he ordered the rest of the troops to storm the front. High Priestess Hill had properly anticipated this though, as the last thing that Stein and Donovan expected was a full frontal assault on their ranks. High Priestess Hill also ordered that the walls were lined with Ignus Machines. General Hunter of the artillery brigade ordered that all Ignus Machines fire at the back ranks of the Maharists in order to surround the fleet in both "bombs and bloody god damned swords." This strike, however, failed, as a spy in the ranks had sabotaged one of the Ignus Machines, and once it exploded, the whole row killed off the artillery brigade. General Hunter and the cannon division were the soul survivors of the sabotage. While the Ignus Machines may have been destroyed, they played a vital part in weakening the frontal assault of the Maharists, and without the assault on the back, they would have been able to destroy the capitol even more quickly, and likely would have resulted in the deaths of even more soldiers and civilians. The Flank Defense The SCAR's defensive mobilization on the flanks was largely considered to be the biggest mistake made in the entire battle, and while it served the purpose in killing many of the Elite Knights (In total, exactly 204 of the 500 Elites mobilized were killed), it led to a majority of the regiment getting killed, as well as sending many of the soldiers mobilized at the flanks to their deaths. The defense on the flank began as planned, where SCAR forces stayed near the forested areas of the region while the Elite Knights of the Maharian forces attacked. They had a regiment of lower-ranking infantry as cannon fodder to bait the Elites in before they would strike the Elites from their sides, leaving them open to a further frontal attack, and preventing them from regrouping with the rest of the Maharian forces. The maneuver began as planned, and the elite Maharian forces attacked the lower ranking officials, taking the bait. However, they did not approximate just how many there were going to be. While the High Priestess and Axtyn had approximated a small platoon, the elite troops had several smaller battalions on all sides, allowing them to start mowing down the small infantry that was mobilized at the front. By the time that the SCAR forces got there, a majority of the forces positioned at the front lines had been killed.